It has long been the desire of mankind to protect the skin and hair from environmental factors that cause damage to them as well as to provide a treatment for such damage after it occurs. The hair and skin often become dry wrinkled as they are exposed to day-to-day stresses in the environment. These stresses include but are not limited to sun, smoke, ozone and environmental pollution. The hair and skin so exposed may appear dry and cosmetically unappealing.
The possibility of avoiding these environmental conditions and consequently the effects of it on hair and skin is all but impossible in today's world. Consequently, there is a need for products that make hair and skin more cosmetically acceptable in appearance. Over the years, many approaches have been tried, with limited success.
Poloxomer is a term applied to compounds that are made up of both ethylene oxide and propylene oxide in a so-called block polymer. Compounds of this type conform to the following structure:HO—(CH2CH2—O)a(CH2CH(CH3)O)b—(CH2CH2O)c—OHwhereina and c are each independently integers ranging from 0 to 20, with the proviso that a+c be at least 5;b is an integer ranging from 1 to 20;with the proviso that a+c be at least 5.
Silicone compounds have been known for a number of years. They however suffer from several inherent problems that minimize their effectiveness in personal care applications. Dimethicone, also called silicone fluids are water insoluble, mineral oil insoluble products that have been applied to the skin. The lack of solubility in many systems, the greasy nature and the cosmetically unacceptable feel on the skin has limited the use of these products in personal care applications.
The incorporation of water-soluble groups onto the silicone backbone has resulted in a series of water-soluble products known as dimethicone copolyol. These materials are easily formulated into water-based systems, but because of their water solubility, remain in the water and provide little in terms of skin and hair treatment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,923 to O'Lenick, entitled Silicone fatty esters as conditioning agents describes certain dimethicone copolyol esters used as conditioners. These materials combine in one molecule a fatty group a silicone group and a water-soluble group. While interesting as emulsifiers, and non-yellowing softeners, this approach does little to address the need for products that provide functional attributes on the hair and skin vis-á-vis conditioning and softening.
Surprisingly, by incorporating a poloxomer ester and a dimethicone copolyol, in separate molecules into a composition, resulting in surprisingly efficacious products, heretofore unattainable.